


Emotional Coding

by TheDreamyWarrior



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, F/F, Guns, Lapis has a sword and is a badass, Medical Trauma, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Robot Feels, Robot Peridot, Robot/Human Relationships, because i love platonic relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23274010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDreamyWarrior/pseuds/TheDreamyWarrior
Summary: In a future where The Authority begins to experiment on turning the humanity into robots, Lapis Lazuli tries to survive away from the conflict, The Rebellion, and her emotions.Who would've thought that a robot could be more human than a person?
Relationships: Amethyst & Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Bismuth/Pearl (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 110





	1. Discovery in the Limit

Her eyes abruptly opened in the poorly lit room, the stinging pain in her upper back becoming exponentially more intense as her consciousness faded into reality. She needed to move, quick, stretching her arm out to the gadget placed over her nightstand.

Lapis took it with trembling hands, her face in sweat and tears as she pressed it against her shoulder, gradually relaxing as the analgesic started to flow through her body, the pain on her back easing until it was negligible. She exhaled in relief while staring at the rusty metallic ceiling of her home — if one could call it like that.

She then glanced at the device in her hand, the red light indicating that the level of analgesic left was minimal, she will have to go outside and get a refill today.

After a couple of minutes laying in bed, nothing but the sound of the wind at the door and her own thoughts accompanying her, she sat on its edge and viewed the small, messy room full of junk. Her sight landed on the placard right over the vault door, 59F in neon blue lights. Better go with some warmer clothing.

She put on cargo trousers, a dark blue fit shirt, and a hoodie vest. The outside was dark, with the sun totally covered with clouds. She got her light-up shoes, better to be able to see where you’re gonna walk.

Finally she took her backpack, hoverboard, and energy sword; just in case she found a drone while outside. And so with a deep inhale she went to the outside — the dark, desolate outside.

Hovering just a couple of feet over the ground, Lapis travelled away from the security of her refuge into _The Limit_ as other scavengers and the rebellion calls it.

The exact place where both battle fronts collide: a deposit of corpses, droid carcasses, and a lot of valuable junk; The Limit has become Lapis’ only way of survival ever since she ran away from the Neon Citadel, with help of the rebels. Just the memory of the cold metallic buildings and blinding lights made her feel dizzy, she shook them out of her head. and finally touched the ground once she was near enough to the junk mountains that extend for miles into the horizon; the smell of rusted metal and gasoline filled the atmosphere and her senses, the first time she got there years ago she almost passed out within minutes.

Lapis turned on her scanner, staring silently at the screen as it started to scan for high-end technology nearby. She walked around with her free hand grabbing at the hilt of the energy sword, observant of any kind of danger that could present itself as she searched through the rubble.

A laser gun, some ion batteries, and a seemingly working generator.

She saved them all in her backpack and decided to call it a day, getting her hoverboard and placing her foot on it.

A nearby buzzing made her freeze instantly, sensing the presence of a drone in her vicinity. She turned to the source of it, discovering the floating electronic scanning around the piles with a red light. Lapis stood still until it got near enough to her and swiftly she turned on the sword to slice it in half with a deafening sound of sawing metal.

The two pieces fell to the ground, a phosphorescent sludge starting to spill over the ground. She turned off the blade of the sword and scrutinized the destroyed machine, hoping for there to be anything salvageable from there.

_Ruined._

Lapis sighed and once again examined her surroundings, detecting some red scanners going off nearby. She walked away from the scene and the area of the drones, hoping to get to a safer place where she could just take her hoverboard to the rebel base.

The walk went on for a while, her nose seemed to get used to the odor of the place as more time went there, but that didn’t mean that the chemicals spewed all around the floor and probably still floating in the air weren’t already affecting her head.

“Oh geez, I need to get myself a mask soon. This whole place is gonna kill me sooner than later.”

_But I’ll need something more valuable to exchange than this._

She took her scanner once again, surely her body could take another hour before giving in. It seemed worth an attempt.

Her eyes widened when she noticed a high energy source on the screen. The measures were going off the rails the more she walked towards it. She could feel her breath going heavy the more she walked. _This must be broken._

“Holy shit.”

She looked at the vaguely human green and yellow... _thing._ A robot, a robot in an almost pristine condition. She kneeled down in front of it, inspecting the arms, cannon, fingers. She then stared at its eye sockets and status light, dark and void of any activity. She looked through its soles, impressed by the technology of the rockets.

_God please be it._

Lapis moved the torso of the inactive robot ever so slightly, inspecting the back of the neck.

**PERIBOT**

**MODEL: 2F5L NUMBER: 5XG**

Lapis was sure she has never smiled this much before, such a rare finding of higher value than all the provisions she gets in a year.

Peribot Model 2F5L, a defective model of the human control robots that monitor the Neon Citadel to avoid uprisings. A robot that was able to tell what a person was feeling by their facial expression and other cues. One that could gradually learn from people to be able to evade any attacks from rebels. Model 2F5L, the robots that could end up acquiring a moral sense and protecting with the ones who they were supposed to attack.

Her eyes sparkled with a bit of hope. They were highly useful on battle. But also the Authority stopped producing them once the flaw was noticed. And most of them were destroyed on battle.

Lapis hoped this would change everything.

She took out her hoverboard and put it on the ground. Slowly pulling the metallic body over it. She forgot about the slight strain on her back and once it was on it. she turned the board on.

It started to float just a little over the ground, then she took out a rope out of her backpack and tied the robot to it, just to avoid it falling down on the walk back. She then started to walk out of the limit, and back to her hideout.

Minutes, maybe an hour passed with her walking on a valley of nothing and more nothing. she could notice that the sun was setting with the light slowly disappearing, making it harder to see farther away. _It doesn’t matter._ Her feet started to ache and she noticed the atmosphere getting colder. _I know the way by memory._

She started to get shivers, her warm breath being visible by the low temperature. She started to quicken her pace. She was hungry and dizzy. Lapis looked into her backpack and took out her water bottle and took a long sip. _Just a little more. I can get there._

The desperation and fear finally stopped being once she noticed warm yellow lights between the fog, she got a second wind and started to run more hurriedly, until she was just at the vault door of the refuge.

She opened it, ignoring the burning cold of the metallic door and inside to the room, barely warmer than the outside.

Lapis turned off the hoverboard, and then she dragged the robot over the floor to a wall, just beside a generator.

Searching through the shelves and boxes, making the place even more of a mess she finally found a cord. With er body shaking from cold, hunger, and excitement; clumsily getting in front of the turned off robot.

And so she connected it. The status light gradually turning on to a bright green.


	2. Log-In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis takes a walk to show off her new acquisition.

The bright green eyes under the visor blinked into activity, the head slightly turning up to fixate on Lapis. Her blue eyes stared back with a small tinge of uncertainty and fear. She wasn’t at all sure that it wouldn’t read her expressions wrong and attack her.

“Greetings, human. I’m Peribot Model 2F5L Number 5XG. My job is to monitor, find and stop any conflict.” It spoke in a monotonous voice.

Then she started to smile, eyes bright. It was in perfect condition and functioned well. She couldn’t avoid letting out a little happy squeak while letting herself fall on the floor.

“You seem to be quite excited.” It commented again, keeping its eyes on her.

“I am,” Lapis giggled, “I think all of my problems are gonna be solved now.” She relaxed more onto the floor.

She knew that she was talking to a thing. But she hasn’t seen an actual person in a couple of weeks already and this was the best she could get. Hearing its almost-human voice was quite comforting after all the silence that was around her refuge.

The robot turned its head and looked around the small room, Lapis sat up and faced it once again.

“Is this supposed to be my assigned neighbourhood? It looks. Small.” It said while tilting its head ever so slightly.

“Not really. I’m gonna take you to the place you gotta monitor tomorrow,” Lapis answered with a little smirk.

Her stomach groaned a little out of hunger, now that the excitement and adrenaline rush was over, she remembered how much she needed to eat now. She stood up, trying to avoid tripping back to the floor from the dizziness, and walked right to the fridge and took out a nutritional bar. Pretty much the only food she had eaten ever since she escaped from the Authority.

She sat on the edge of her bed, biting onto the bar while staring into space. The robot simply looked at her without making any sound, then went back to examining the floor,its hands, and the wire connected to its back.

Lapis sat there immobile while trying to remember a many details from back when she lived on the Neon Citadel. While the Peribots didn’t seem menacing at first, one had to be incredibly careful in the way one acted to prevent its emergency system from being set off. Thinking of one in action made her shiver.

She stood up and went back to the robot. It looked back at her, its eyes making her feel ill. As quickly as she could, she put her hand on its back and turned it off, sighing relieved once the metallic body fell limply on the ground.

“My stars you’re so creepy to have around,” She said with a grimace, looking once again at the dark eyes. “You give me bad memories.”

Once she made herself sure that it wouldn’t reactivate by itself, she changed into ragged synthetic pajamas and laid on the bed.

Silence reigned on the room once again, the emergency lights tinting the walls in neon turquoise, she looked back at the robot still laying idly against the wall. She then stared through the window just to see the outside engulfed in the darkness of the night. She looked at the sky, only to see a blend of black and grey from the perpetual clouds covering anything that’s further away.

She just kept staring without a word, and slowly faded into unconsciousness.

_No, don’t let them take me!_

_Stop it! It hurts._

_What is this supposed to be?!_

She woke up into the next morning with tears falling through her cheeks, hands shaky and some slight pain slowly starting to reappear on her back.

Lapis looked at the digital clock beside the bed, 8:20AM. Not a bad hour to start the day. The Peribot hasn’t moved an inch since she turned it off, that’s relieving. But having it near her obviously was bringing her bad memories.

She rubbed her eyes exhausted, wiping off the dry tears from her face. Those kinda nightmares always made her feel fucked up for the rest of the day. She looked back to the robot.

“It’s time to take you with the rebels.” She said while trying very hard to put on a smile.

Lapis was once again wandering outside, the hoverboard with the inactive robot on her side. The wind pushed her in multiple directions while she tried to keep herself steady towards the rebel base. She felt how her back started to ache due to the exerting long walks — She tends to use her hoverboard to avoid exhausting herself like this.

But obviously, she can’t hold the metallic body by herself, and the hoverboard was capable of sustaining such weight.

The soft blue and yellow lights were noticeable through the dust in the air, her panting started to turn into a relieved sigh.

A cyan laser beam grazed her cheek, and she froze in place as she felt her skin burn.

“Identify yourself,” A heavily filtered voice came from the nearby entrance, a bright yellow visor and coat making it unrecognizable. “We can’t allow anyone inside with such high energy readings.”

“I’m one of your scavengers, Lapis Lazuli,” her lip trembled. “I come for a trade, a good one.”

There was a pause, the person took a scanner and a blue light examined her from head to toes, they nodded in acknowledgement and they walked her to the base.

They put in their hand for scanning, and the giant vault door creaked open.

Once they were inside Lapis touched her injured cheek once again, hissing when the burning sprouted back with the contact. She once again stared at the person, who was now more distinguishable with the lighting of the interior.

“Pearl, why did you do that?” She asked offended.

She then took off the yellow visor, revealing light blue eyes filled with shame.

“I’m so sorry Lapis. Oh my stars. I just panicked when I noticed you were bringing that... _thing_ with you!” She said while gesturing at the robot on the board, Lapis raised an eyebrow. “The readings were so high! I wasn’t sure how to react so I just went with the protocol.” Lapis kept staring at her judgingly. “Don’t worry, it was just a small burn, the medics can get you fixed up in an instant! It’s on me.”

She nodded satisfied, meanwhile Pearl kept fidgeting nervously while staring at the robot floating just in front of her. She took in a breath.

“I found this Peribot of the 2F5L series yesterday while on The Limit. I checked it out back at home and it’s intact – I don’t think that it’s ever been activated before.” She started to put out a proud smirk as Pearl’s expression became more exaggerated.

“A 2F5L?! And its _intact_ ?!” She rejoiced while approaching the robot. “I thought there weren’t anymore left! The last one we had was destroyed in battle _months_ ago! Oh stars Bismuth is gonna _love_ tweaking this baby.”

Lapis couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as Pearl examined it with starry eyes, moving each of the joints and hitting her nails over it like a child receiving a doll-droid for her birthday.

“How much can I get for it?” Lapis asked slightly impatient.

“Oh! We have so many things that we can offer you for this thing! Its value is immeasurable! It’ll take a while to list everything, how about you stay until the next morning so we can get the trade ready?”

“That seems like a good idea. But first. Could I get some analgesic for my back? I ran out of it on the way here.” She said while rubbing behind her neck.

“Worry not! We can also heal that cheek burn while on it.” She said while walking through the establishment.

Lapis followed her behind, the hoverboard and her treasure with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It's been a while. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of writing...maybe...hopefully.


	3. Check up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis and Pearl walk through the Rebel base to get things done.

They walked through the cold halls, people of varied ages and appearances looking at them while they passed. Lapis felt like they were judging and scared, probably because of the idle robot hovering just beside her. Some more familiar faces just gave an awkward smile and then averted their eyes from her.

Pearl simply resumed her walk, with no doubt on where to go — She knew the whole base on a level any other human could not. Lapis admitted to herself that it was almost uncanny, but she never questioned it, just as how they never questioned her reluctance to live here.

A sliding transparent door stood in front of them, with a bright blue cross painted over it, the inside of the sterile white room made her eyes burn the second they stepped inside. She could feel the heavy atmosphere along with the wounded people laying on their beds, patches and scars all over their bodies. Lapis’ gut twisted as the place made her thoughts go to dark memories.

“Lapis? Are you feeling ill?” Pearl asked just a couple of steps in front of her, a worried expression on her face and eyes.

Lapis didn’t notice how she had frozen in place, grimacing and shaking while gripping her left arm with so much strength that it hurt. She took a deep breath and without any response walked to an empty bed.

Both then were approached by one of the medics. Pearl shared a couple of words with the woman, who gave a suspicious stare at the robot inside the room, and then she just proceeded to do a regular check on Lapis’ vitals.

The cotton swab lightly touched the burn on her cheek, she felt a jolt of pain when alcohol came in contact with her skin. She gritted her teeth while the doctor put a bandage over the wound, and once she was over she checked the holographic screen that was projected from her wrist.

"Miss Lazuli, would you let me see your back? It's been long since its progress was last registered." she said, her eyes staring deep into her.

The words resonated loudly inside her head as her heart rate once again started to go up, this place was too familiar, too much. Her whole field of view was a blur, and the voices seemed to come from miles away. Her hands turned into fists when she felt a hand gently touching her shoulder, and with a gasp she suddenly fell back into reality, sweating.

The doctor kept staring at her with a straight expression, she didn't seem to take notice of Lapis' stress. On the other side, Pearl took the doctor's hand off her shoulder.

"Sorry Dr. Maheswaran, but Lapis doesn't let anyone do that, she's incredibly closed off and this specific environment doesn't let her feel safe," She said with a soft tone.

Lapis kept her stare down into the floor, slowly noticing the pain jolt back up into her spine.

"I just want an analgesic refill," she said while taking the small cylindrical device from her pocket.

She noticed how the doctor grimaced before taking it, and all she could do was break eye contact.

The doctor fumbled through the cabinets, and as they waited Lapis hugged her knees on the bed. Her body still shivering. Pearl was able to tell how upset she was, and all she did was give her a slight pat on her head.

Once she got handed the medicine, they just proceeded to take the robot to the technician.

They entered another zone of the installation, where machinery and weapons hung on the walls and were laid on tables. Some mechanics worked with bigger things like plasma cannons while others dedicated to update prosthetics for disabled individuals. The smell of oil and metal heavily reminiscent of The Limit, a familiarity that Lapis didn't expect to welcome for once.

Pearl's eyes peered around the teams and technology, landing on the colorful dreadlocks that stood out in the back.

"Bismuuuuth!!" She shouted with excitement while raising up her arm.

The black woman turned around and trotted to them, pulling Pearl into a tight hug while giggling in rejoice. Lapis simply crossed her arms and looked down, shrinking in comparison of the two women finding happiness in each other.

Once she was finally let back onto the floor, Pearl took a step back and gestured at Lapis.

"Lapis! It's good to see you again! How have you been? Has your pain eased up a bit after the last adjustments I did?" She said with a wide friendly smile, which made her ease a bit.

"It's been alright, at least now it can be bearable most of the time. But that isn't the reason why I came," as she talked, she brought the inert robot to Bismuth's sight, making her gasp in awe.

"What a pristine example! Oh my stars I can't wait to see what I can do with its pa…"

"It's actually fully functioning. This Peribot Model 2F5L you see here is probably the last of its kind. Seems to not have been activated previously, until last night, when I tried to check its state," she said puffing out her chest with a proud smirk.

"Tis a joke, right? Are you kidding me now?!" She started to poke and prod around the robot with her mechanic hand. "Let's go to a testing room to see it in action!" 

They closed themselves inside a metallic bunker. They have dealt with this technology in the past and it hadn't ended well every time, containing it on a closed room prevented further damages. Bismuth changed her hand into a cannon, just to be safe in case the thing went haywire. They turned on the power and the eyes lit into activity once again.

Bismuth's amazement was palpable, staring dumbfounded as if she saw god itself.

“Greetings, human. I’m Peribot Model 2F5L Number 5XG. My job is to monitor, find and stop any conflict.”

Bismuth's mouth went agape, her loud gasp reverberating on the walls.

"Stars, I cannot believe it!" She blinked herself out of the trance. "Fully functioning, and isn't immediately aggressive!"

"Yeah yeah, I told you that it was pretty great!" Lapis nodded proudly.

Meanwhile the robot just looked around the room, investigating each corner attentively.

"This isn't the place I was in last time," it said while putting its palm against a wall, then it looked back at Bismuth and Lapis. "My records tell me that I haven't seen you before."

"Well, now ya have seen me! So record my face well," Bismuth approached the robot, and put her mechanic hand over its shoulder. "Because from now on you're gonna be my companion."

The robot's eyes moved ever so slightly to look at Lapis, but then focused on Bismuth again.

"Companion you say," it said. "This is not part of my current programming, Peribots aren't companions, we are supposed to monit…" Bismuth instantly shushed it, which caused it to stop completely.

"But Peribots can learn from the environment they work in. So you can learn to be my companion," Bismuth told it determined.

The robot blinked, and then took off Bismuth's grip from its shoulder.

"If this is the location assigned to me by Yellow Diamond, and I'm supposed to be your companion. Then so be it,"

Bismuth smiled softly, and then discreetly put her hand against the back of the robot, turning it back off.

"I'm gonna tweak its hand cannons, I wanna avoid its defense system activating by surprise. While it does seem like we can condition it to become a good ally, it'll still take us a while before it can be fully trustworthy," she asserted while rubbing her chin thoughtfully, then turned to face Lapis. "But hey, this was a truly wonderful contribution of yours! And I'm gonna talk with the others to see what options we have for your payment."

She simply nodded satisfied, and without another word left Bismuth alone with the bot.

All she did was wander alone through the establishment. She wasn't supposed to get back to her refuge until the next morning, but she also didn't have anything to do in here.

Her lonely walk was interrupted once she bumped against someone. Lapis looked up to the person's face, her eyes covered behind an opaque visor.

"Well if it isn't Lapis Lazuli! I was looking for you. Pearl told me about what you brought to us today," Garnet grinned at her.

"Yes, it's in Bismuth's hands now. If you wanna see it you should go to the tech zone," Lapis responded curtly, she couldn't help but feel bothered by her sudden appearance.

"Sweet! Guess I'll get going then," she crossed her arms, and while Lapis tried to get back to her solitary wandering, she just blocked her path repeatedly.

"What do you want?" She huffed exasperated. But then her apparent annoyance diminished the second Garnet's hand touched her shoulder, while she crouched a bit to get to her level.

"I just want to remind you that you'll be always welcome to join. I know it seems scary but you'll be much safer with us than working as an scavenger," she then took off the eyewear, her blue and brown eyes stared deep into her. "Just, think about it."

Even if Garnet had already walked away, Lapis stood in place. She had had over two years to consider it, and not once had she ever felt the need to be an active member.

There was no reason for it to change now. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! it's been a while lmao. I got very stuck in a specific part of this and wasn't able to continue until I got help from a friend to see what to do. I was very happy to finally introduce Bismuth!


	4. Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis spends the rest of the day inside the Rebellion facility.

“Why are you wearing such a sad face!” Amethyst shouted on Lapis’ ear, making her jump in surprise.

“What’s wrong with you!” Lapis screamed back while covering her ears in pain.

How long has she been staring at her? standing alone in the hall with multitudes of people walking around? How long has it been since she saw Garnet?

Time felt like a blur to Lapis, it may have been minutes or hours. Her stomach was empty and her head a mess of thoughts, the last thing she needed was to be shouted back into her senses by the girl in front of her.

“No, what’s wrong with YOU. You have no business being so sad and alone in here, much less when you have become Biz’s literal hero,” She said proudly, puffing out her chest. “you brought a robot to us! Do you know how much Pearl is calculating to pay you?”

“No I don’t, and it’s not your business to tell me,”

“Well, I am your friend so I technically do,”

“Just because you saved me from The Authority doesn’t make us _ ‘friends’”  _ She said while making a quote gesture with her fingers.

“Yeah sure, say whatever you want, I know you still like me,” Amethyst pretended to be angry and turned away with her arms crossed.

They shared a small laugh, that was until the speakers around the installation started to make noise, a robotic femenine voice announcing:

_ “Everyone please go to your assigned dining rooms, as it’s time to eat.” _

Everybody shuffled around, waves of people going to different directions as Lapis and Amethyst stood in place.

“Fuck yeah! My favorite time of the day has come!” Amethyst said triumphantly.

“I thought your favorite time of the day was breakfast time,” she said, confused.

“Well, I can have as many favorite times as I want y’know!” she responded with a big laugh, “how about you come with me to eat,”

“I don’t want to eat right no…” Lapis’ stomach grumbled loudly.

“Nonsense!” She laughed loudly, gripping Lapis from the wrist “You’re probably famished!”

Even with Lapis' protests against it, Amethyst continued to forcibly pull her towards one of the dining rooms, she put her down on a table and she sat on the other side, right in front of her. She pouted while crossing her arms and looking away from her, who simply kept her hearty smile.

The place got more populated as the time for dinner got closer. Men, women, and even children; all of them took refuge from the Diamonds inside the rebellion, a group of teenagers passed by Amethyst, who exchanged a secret handshake with each of them.

The saloon went still for a moment, everyone already on their seats awaiting for the servers to put the dishes on the table. Doors opened and dozens of people walked towards the tables, tray in hand with as many dishes as people on each location, plus one more.

A short, dark skinned woman arrived with her own tray, four dishes on top of it along with their respective glasses of water. She put it down to help her partner sit by the table.

Lapis looked back to Sapphire, her eyes covered by a dark, opaque visor. Ruby placed the dishes, glasses and cutlery while humming lightheartedly.

"Why so happy Ruby? Enjoying the server turn?" Amethyst teased as she sat down.

"It lets me show off how strong I am!" She flexed her arms proudly.

"Yes sweetheart, you sure are," Sapphire commented before taking a mouthful of rice.

Lapis was silently staring at the dish: rice, some cooked vegetables and a small slice of meat.

"Hey, what's the matter Laz?" Amethyst asked her, worried.

"Nothing it's just...kind of overwhelming seeing so many people in the same place," She said while taking the fork and knife, struggling to cut into the meat.

"You can get used to it if you came over more often, right Sapphy?" Ruby said with a friendly smile, Sapphire silently nodded with her.

Lapis didn't respond to that, she just kept eating while her companions talked between each other. Missions, danger, The Authority, and more topics bounced between them while she just kept looking down the table.

She didn't get what was so exciting about being part of the rebellion, it's dangerous, you can get hurt or even die. And Lapis already had been in risk way too long to want to get back to it now. Being a scavenger is easier, you don't go into the heat of the battle and the worst you can encounter is a scanner droid.

Around an hour passed until the robotic voice interrupted her train of thought:

_ "The time for dinner is over, please leave your trays on their respective shelves." _

The crowd started pacing back and forth, moving trays and then proceeding to leave the zone, ruby piled up all of the trays by herself and walked off, Sapphire following right beside her. Amethyst stood up and poked Lapis' cheek to get her attention.

"Let's go Laz! Pearl told me to show you your capsule once we finished eating," She said as Lapis finally looked up to her.

"Okay okay, just stop being annoying," Lapis chuckled while pushing Amethyst's finger away.

Trying to keep so many people in such a limited facility is difficult, especially when thinking about rooms for every one of them. The Rebellion designed the residential wing with "capsules", cells along the walls going from the floor to the ceiling, each one of them has barely enough space to keep one or two persons in them, there's bedding and some containers to keep personal cleanliness, and multiple public bathrooms are placed along the wing.

Amethyst guided her through the crowded halls, until she stopped in front of one of the ladders.

"Capsule 25-A is yours, just beside mine!" Amethyst chuckled. "If you need anyone to talk to during the night just knock on the wall," she said as she did a knocking gesture.

Lapis nodded with a grin and inhaled before beginning to go up the ladder, Amethyst followed behind, making sure she didn't lose her balance on the way up.

Once she finally got there she sighed, tired after the long day, and laid down on the rigid mattress that was placed along the small space, Lapis got herself into the pajamas that were stored there, they were a bit too big for her, but they were more comfortable than the ones she had at her bunker.

She heard a knock on the wall between her and Amethyst's capsule, she rolled her eyes before placing her ear by the wall to listen.

"Good night Laz," she said softly from the other side of the wall.

Her lips turned into a smile, Amethyst was too sweet at times. Even if she tries to hide it, or pretends to be annoyed, she appreciates her company a lot as one of the first people she ever felt capable of trusting.

"Good night to you too," she whispered before snuggling herself between the blankets.

For a while, there was some noise of more people getting inside their assigned capsules, but after that it was just silence.

Being part of the rebellion wasn't a concept Lapis liked, it seemed too dangerous for her. She always associated it with the conflict and explosions since she was a child; but now, after having laid down in the capsule and saying goodnight to someone, she was reminded of when she first felt actually  _ safe _ in her life: when she was taken in by them, when she felt the warmth of being held gently by another human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Hope you all liked this chapter, I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out...even if it took me months to get it done...

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! Dreamy here, thank you so much for reading this first chapter! I generally don't feel satisfied with my own writing. I actually did this for all of the folks on my tumblr (@thedreamywarrior) interested on this AU!
> 
> I'll try my best to keep it up, I'm certainly super excited to get this whole thing going!


End file.
